App

class App(visible=None, spec=None, add_book=True, impl=None)

An app corresponds to an Excel instance and should normally be used as context manager to make sure that everything is properly cleaned up again and to prevent zombie processes. New Excel instances can be fired up like so:

import xlwings as xw

with xw.App() as app:
    print(app.books)

An app object is a member of the apps collection:

>>> xw.apps
Apps([<Excel App 1668>, <Excel App 1644>])
>>> xw.apps[1668]  # get the available PIDs via xw.apps.keys()
<Excel App 1668>
>>> xw.apps.active
<Excel App 1668>

Parameters

visiblebool, default None

Returns or sets a boolean value that determines whether the app is visible. The default leaves the state unchanged or sets visible=True if the object doesn’t exist yet.

specstr, default None

Mac-only, use the full path to the Excel application, e.g. /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Excel or /Applications/Microsoft Excel

On Windows, if you want to change the version of Excel that xlwings talks to, go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and Repair the Office version that you want as default.

Note

On Mac, while xlwings allows you to run multiple instances of Excel, it’s a feature that is not officially supported by Excel for Mac: Unlike on Windows, Excel will not ask you to open a read-only version of a file if it is already open in another instance. This means that you need to watch out yourself so that the same file is not being overwritten from different instances.

activate(steal_focus=False)

Activates the Excel app.

Parameters

steal_focusbool, default False

If True, make frontmost application and hand over focus from Python to Excel.

Added in version 0.9.0.

alert(prompt, title=None, buttons='ok', mode=None, callback=None)

This corresponds to MsgBox in VBA, shows an alert/message box and returns the value of the pressed button. For xlwings Server, instead of returning a value, the function accepts the name of a callback to which it will supply the value of the pressed button.

Parameters

promptstr, default None

The message to be displayed.

titlestr, default None

The title of the alert.

buttonsstr, default "ok"

Can be either "ok", "ok_cancel", "yes_no", or "yes_no_cancel".

modestr, default None

Can be "info" or "critical". Not supported by Google Sheets.

callbackstr, default None

Only used by xlwings Server: you can provide the name of a function that will be called with the value of the pressed button as argument. The function has to exist on the client side, i.e., in VBA or JavaScript.

Returns

button_value: str or None

Returns None when used with xlwings Server, otherwise the value of the pressed button in lowercase: "ok", "cancel", "yes", "no".

Added in version 0.27.13.

property api

Returns the native object (pywin32 or appscript obj) of the engine being used.

Added in version 0.9.0.

property books

A collection of all Book objects that are currently open.

Added in version 0.9.0.

calculate()

Calculates all open books.

Added in version 0.3.6.

property calculation

Returns or sets a calculation value that represents the calculation mode. Modes: 'manual', 'automatic', 'semiautomatic'

Examples

>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> wb = xw.Book()
>>> wb.app.calculation = 'manual'

Changed in version 0.9.0.

property cut_copy_mode

Gets or sets the status of the cut or copy mode. Accepts False for setting and returns None, copy or cut when getting the status.

Added in version 0.24.0.

property display_alerts

The default value is True. Set this property to False to suppress prompts and alert messages while code is running; when a message requires a response, Excel chooses the default response.

Added in version 0.9.0.

property enable_events

True if events are enabled. Read/write boolean.

Added in version 0.24.4.

property hwnd

Returns the Window handle (Windows-only).

Added in version 0.9.0.

property interactive

True if Excel is in interactive mode. If you set this property to False, Excel blocks all input from the keyboard and mouse (except input to dialog boxes that are displayed by your code). Read/write Boolean. NOTE: Not supported on macOS.

Added in version 0.24.4.

kill()

Forces the Excel app to quit by killing its process.

Added in version 0.9.0.

macro(name)

Runs a Sub or Function in Excel VBA that are not part of a specific workbook but e.g. are part of an add-in.

Arguments

nameName of Sub or Function with or without module name,

e.g., 'Module1.MyMacro' or 'MyMacro'

Examples

This VBA function:

Function MySum(x, y)
    MySum = x + y
End Function

can be accessed like this:

>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> app = xw.App()
>>> my_sum = app.macro('MySum')
>>> my_sum(1, 2)
3

Types are supported too:

Function MySum(x as integer, y as integer)
    MySum = x + y
End Function

>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> app = xw.App()
>>> my_sum = app.macro('MySum')
>>> my_sum(1, 2)
3

However typed arrays are not supported. So the following won’t work

Function MySum(arr() as integer)
    ' code here
End Function

See also: Book.macro()

Added in version 0.9.0.

property path

Returns the path to where the App is installed.

Added in version 0.28.4.

property pid

Returns the PID of the app.

Added in version 0.9.0.

properties(**kwargs)

Context manager that allows you to easily change the app’s properties temporarily. Once the code leaves the with block, the properties are changed back to their previous state. Note: Must be used as context manager or else will have no effect. Also, you can only use app properties that you can both read and write.

Examples

import xlwings as xw
app = App()

# Sets app.display_alerts = False
with app.properties(display_alerts=False):
    # do stuff

# Sets app.calculation = 'manual' and app.enable_events = True
with app.properties(calculation='manual', enable_events=True):
    # do stuff

# Makes sure the status bar is reset even if an error happens in the with block
with app.properties(status_bar='Calculating...'):
    # do stuff

Added in version 0.24.4.

quit()

Quits the application without saving any workbooks.

Added in version 0.3.3.

range(cell1, cell2=None)

Range object from the active sheet of the active book, see Range().

Added in version 0.9.0.

render_template(template=None, output=None, book_settings=None, **data)

This function requires xlwings PRO.

This is a convenience wrapper around mysheet.render_template

Writes the values of all key word arguments to the output file according to the template and the variables contained in there (Jinja variable syntax). Following variable types are supported:

strings, numbers, lists, simple dicts, NumPy arrays, Pandas DataFrames, pictures and Matplotlib/Plotly figures.

Parameters

template: str or path-like object

Path to your Excel template, e.g. r'C:\Path\to\my_template.xlsx'

output: str or path-like object

Path to your Report, e.g. r'C:\Path\to\my_report.xlsx'

book_settings: dict, default None

A dictionary of xlwings.Book parameters, for details see: xlwings.Book. For example: book_settings={'update_links': False}.

data: kwargs

All key/value pairs that are used in the template.

Returns

wb: xlwings Book

Added in version 0.24.4.

property screen_updating

Turn screen updating off to speed up your script. You won’t be able to see what the script is doing, but it will run faster. Remember to set the screen_updating property back to True when your script ends.

Added in version 0.3.3.

property selection

Returns the selected cells as Range.

Added in version 0.9.0.

property startup_path

Returns the path to XLSTART which is where the xlwings add-in gets copied to by doing xlwings addin install.

Added in version 0.19.4.

property status_bar

Gets or sets the value of the status bar. Returns False if Excel has control of it.

Added in version 0.20.0.

property version

Returns the Excel version number object.

Examples

>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> xw.App().version
VersionNumber('15.24')
>>> xw.apps[10559].version.major
15

Changed in version 0.9.0.

property visible

Gets or sets the visibility of Excel to True or False.

Added in version 0.3.3.